Wenger: the Champions League trophy is not enough

Arsène Wenger will hardly stand with a glum face if he wins the Champions League but nor will he feel he has achieved his career ambitions. A European trophy is the only notable silverware to have eluded Arsenal's manager, who has won league titles in France and England and cups in both as well as Japan, but he would still not have a sense of completion.

"My career will never be good enough for me because it is the way I am," Wenger said. "You always think about what you could have won and didn't win, and what you win you think: 'That is normal.' I will have to accept that people judge whether [my career] was good or not good but I am not too much worried about that. I want to win it for the club, for the players and of course for me, but it's not at the moment what worries me."

Wenger has described reaching Wednesday's European Cup final as completing almost a decade's work at Arsenal, during which he has won three championships and four FA Cups, but he disputed that lifting the trophy was automatically the biggest achievement for a club manager.

"I always think in every job consistency is quality," he said. "We can all be successful for five minutes but when you do it over five, 10 or 15 years that takes a special dedication, a special stamina in your motivation." None the less winning in Paris is paramount for the Frenchman. "We want to win the trophy," he said, "and I believe we will do it."

The twist on the Premiership's final day that saw Arsenal take fourth place should help because the team no longer have to beat Barcelona to reach next season's Champions League.

"We will play under less negative pressure in the [final]," Wenger said. "I think this gives us more positive vibes that we have already qualified. It has a positive impact."

He expects an exciting game from two teams capable of the unexpected and knows that the focus will largely be on whether Thierry Henry or Ronaldinho proves more inspirational.

"People will compare but I don't want Thierry under too much pressure," Wenger said. "Let's play well as a team. If we play well as a team, and I am convinced we will, then Thierry will automatically be good. If we don't play well as a team, Thierry will suffer. We saw that against Villarreal away, where the team refused to play and we suffered offensively."

Meanwhile the Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fàbregas's father, also Francesc, said he had a "divided heart" over the match. "I have lived in Barcelona all my life, but on this occasion I will go with Arsenal."